From The New York Times...

Hugh Hicks, Prodigious Collector of Light Bulbs, Dies at 79
By DOUGLAS MARTIN


r. Hugh Francis Hicks, a dentist whose fascination with light bulbs is said to have begun when his mother tossed one into his crib and culminated in his owning 60,000 bulbs, died on May 7 in Baltimore. He was 79.

He had a heart attack, his daughter Frances Hicks Apollony, said.

Dr. Hicks showed off his collection in a museum in the basement under his periodontics office. He named it the Mount Vernon Museum of Incandescent Lighting, charged no admission and gave visitors, about 6,000 a year, cookies.

Not infrequently, patients had to wait as he welcomed people interested in seeing what he identified as the biggest and smallest light bulbs in the world — to say nothing of the floodlights used in an Elvis Presley movie or the headlamps from Hitler's Mercedes-Benz.

"Sometimes he left a patient sitting in the chair with the peroxide bubbling up in his mouth," his daughter said.

Harold D. Wallace, a specialist in the electricity collections of the National Museum of American History of the Smithsonian Institution, said Dr. Hicks had one of the three most important light bulb collections in the United States. The others are at the Smithsonian and the Henry Ford Museum in Dearborn, Mich.

Dr. Hicks's specimens include an Edison bulb from the demolished Vanderbilt mansion in Manhattan; a dashboard light from the Enola Gay, the plane that dropped the atomic bomb on Hiroshima; and a 15-watt fluorescent bulb that illuminated the table on which the Japanese signed the surrender agreement that ended World War II.

There are bulbs shaped like Dick Tracy, Betty Boop and Disney characters; a sailing ship inside a bulb; and men's ties with bulbs embedded in them. There are also a 50,000-watt bulb from the La Guardia Airport control tower and a light used in wiring spacecraft that can be seen only through a microscope.

There is a complete history of Christmas lighting, and there are 15 or 20 bulbs that Thomas A. Edison probably held in his hands 122 years ago.

Mr. Wallace said Dr. Hicks's impossible goal was to have one of every kind of bulb. "He was the kind of guy who never met a light bulb he didn't like," he said.

Hugh Francis Hicks was born on April 26, 1923, in Baltimore. His mother told Mrs. Apollony that he was bored with the toys in his crib, so she gave him an old bulb. Family legend has it that he was entranced, even if endangered.

As a boy, he liked school projects that involved electricity, and he began collecting bulbs.

He graduated from Columbia University and the University of Maryland Dental School, where he, like his father, specialized in periodontics, dealing with diseases of the bone and tissue supporting the teeth.

His passion intensified. He received donations from the University of Maryland physics department and cultivated other bulb enthusiasts with whom he could trade. On a vacation in the Bahamas, he saw some old Nassau street lights being removed and asked for one.

He was not above what might be termed stealing, and he proudly displayed stolen bulbs in a group he called 10 Hot Types. In the Paris Metro in 1964, he noticed a series of 1920's-era tungsten bulbs along the wall. He did not know that the bulbs were wired so that if one was removed, all would go out.

He surreptitiously removed a bulb, and the tunnel was suddenly pitch dark. With people screaming, he scrambled to replace the bulb.

"But I couldn't get it back," Dr. Hicks said in an interview in The Baltimore Sun. "So, you know me, I grabbed two more and took off."

In addition to his daughter Frances, who lives in Baltimore, surviving are another daughter, Louise Hicks Smith of Winchester, Va.; a sister, Lois Hicks Burkley of Baltimore; and four grandchildren. Mrs. Apollony said the family hoped to keep the collection intact and in Baltimore.

Dr. Hicks liked to tell the story of psychiatric researchers from the Johns Hopkins University who visited him in the mid-1980's as part of a study on why collectors collect. He told them that the greatest bulb collector of all time was William J. Hammer, who worked as an engineer for Edison and collected 130,000 electric bulbs before 1900. Each was different.

"Mr. Hammer died the month that I was born," Dr. Hicks told the psychiatrists. "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

The interview ended immediately.

From The Daily Southdown...

Strange cargo found in forest

Stumped officials try to find out who dropped off 55 gallons of goat semen in Cook County preserve

Wednesday, May 1, 2002




By Jennifer Martikean
Staff writer


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
It wasn't nearly as much fun as a barrel full of monkeys, but the barrel firefighters found was just as weird.
It was full of goat semen.

Or maybe it was pig semen.

"We're still in disbelief," said a firefighter who did not want to be identified. "I have never heard of anything like this ever happening. We have no idea who did this."

The mysterious barrel was discovered Monday night by a passerby at the Arie Crown Woods near Countryside, Cook County Forest Preserve Lt. Michael Albrecht said.

When the police came out to take a look, they found a white, 55-gallon container with a black plug on top and hazardous materials markings on the outside.

They called in the hazardous materials team from Pleasantview Fire Protection District.

"The firefighters came, they saw the barrel, and the cleared out the area," Albrecht said.

Firefighters spent some time trying to figure out what kind of substance they were dealing with. All they knew was the barrel had some liquid in it.

After a careful inspection, firefighters found a phone number on one of the stickers. They radioed the number to dispatchers, who traced it to an Iowa company called Swine Genetics.

The company ships pig and boar semen in canisters, which in turn are placed in large drums filled with liquid nitrogen. The liquid nitrogen keeps the semen at the optimal temperature so it can be shipped long distances and used for artificial insemination.

No one has any idea how the semen ended up at the forest preserve.

"We get calls about illegal dumping all the time, but never anything like this," Albrecht said.

The police department "properly disposed" of the semen, but declined to say how.

There was some conflicting information about what kind of semen was in the canister. Albrecht said police believe it was goat semen, but Swine Genetics only deals in pig semen. A worker at the company said the barrels are expensive, costing as much as $1,100, and they are often reused by farmers to ship other types of semen.

Pleasantview firefighters were a little embarrassed about the big fuss. They were still laughing about it Tuesday and could hardly comment.

"It is just so bizarre that that would be out there," a firefighter said. "We've had all kinds of guesses at the station all day. But I'm not going to tell you what they were."

A worker at Swine Genetics said the company hasn't had any reports of missing semen, and police said no one has reported anything like it missing.

The company ships internationally out of O'Hare International Airport, so it is possible one of the barrels could have come from the airport, he said.

Top mens' fashions!

I LOVE THIS SITE!!!!! www.hungrybutscared.com It's just way to good!

hi.

A hospital ball is sponsored by a cigar company. We live in strange times.

Congratulations, you've won the golf tournament! Here's your lovely looking trophy!

From Timothy McSweeney's Unreserved Embrace

Rapper Or Toiletry Product?

1. Suave
2. Nice & Smooth
3. Soft & Gentle
4. Shyne
5. All Fresh
6. All Natural
7. Remedy
8. D-Flame
9. Cream Silk
10. Volume 10
11. Dimension
12. Cool Breeze
13. Smooth Appeal
14. Q-Tip

Toiletry: 1, 3, 5, 9, 11, and 13.
Rapper: 2, 4, 6, 7, 8, 10, and 12.
Both toiletry and rapper: 14.

You have to buy yourself a copy of Darren Hanlon's new record, Hello Stranger. It sounds like he's a big Jonathon Richman fan. Always a good thing.

I need to stay at the Madonna Inn. A hotel with 109 individually themed rooms.

The Safari Room is great "if you like Tigers, Leopards, Zebras and Elephants, you will love this room! Decor in the bathroom also carries out the bold “Safari” theme, with rock waterfall shower. Room is equipped with two king-sized beds."

Make sure you visit the Madonna Suite, "decorated by incorporating the color schemes, furnishings, and basic ideas favored through the years by Alex and Phyllis Madonna. The huge rock fireplace, unique rock waterfall sink and shower in the bathroom, tones of reds and pinks, and the use of crystal all play a part in making this fanciful hideaway a favorite."

My personal favorite is the All American Suite which is a "tastefully decorated in early American furniture, it offers two king-sized beds, a 7-foot bathtub and double sinks. The focal point is a colossal fireplace of natural white stone. Easy chairs of red, white and blue leather add to the comfort and luxury of this patriotic paradise."

A list of Net 50 recipes....

George’s Angels On Horseback oysters, wrapped in bacon
Marilyn Manson’s Devils On Horseback prunes wrapped in bacon
Gomez’s antipasto platter eclectic mix of cold meats, olives and cheeses
Faithless’s Crazy English Summer Salad Haddock and iceberg lettuce with generous pinch of rocksalt and rocket
Mr Oysterhead prefers his oysters with nothing a generous squeeze of lemon
Alex Lloyd’s Green Bananna Curry
Daft Punk’s Savory Cheese Tarlets
Thom Yorke’s Special Goat Vindaloo

I wrote this review for Beat Magazine.

Sloan
Pretty Together

Right now, Sloan could be one of the best live bands in the world. Those who were lucky enough to see these super talented, good lookin’ and tea totallin’ Canadians when they visited in 1999 would mostly agree. To get an almost full Prince Of Wales (hotel, not the mourning English chap) singing along to a song they have never heard before is heresy in the current must-not-smile-and enjoy-ourselves-or-admit-to-loving-rock-just-keep-the-marketing-machine-rolling-smoothly era.

Back then they were touring with the amazing album, Between The Bridges. That record was a slow burner, so slow that in an interview I gave one of the poor members a grilling over the phone accusing them of the weird and made-up crime of being “very medium”. Imagine my embarrassment when, by the time Sloan were in Melbourne I had to recant and admit that I had made a stupidly ambit claim. This brings us to the new record, Pretty Together. This time I can’t make the same mistake. You see, local record company reason saw fit not to release Pretty Together until now, when for everywhere else in the world, the album came out around November last year. I payed around $17 million for it on import at the time, played it to death for a month and found I didn’t like it much. Yes, for the same reasons as their previous record. Today I turn it on and, what the fuck was I thinking, this is an awesome record. Last year, The Life Of A Working Girl seemed creepy and inept, now I get it, it’s and pretty and obscure love song. With the backward guitar sweep in the background, it’s supposed to be creepy. Never Seeing The Ground For The Sky is a belter. Get the lyric sheet out and scream along. It’s In Your Eye is classic Sloan, combining a belting rhythm, subtle three part harmonies and superbly dumb lyrics, “You’re so crazy, crazy for me and I don’t know why, yeah I don’t know why,” while album opener If It Feels Good Do It is just big, dumb and delicious rock. And check this out, Pick It Up And Dial is a rock’n’roll infomercial with Gene Simmons like screams of “People people. This is a poll. Are you one of the ones who went and gave up on rock’n’roll?” Dicky? Yes. Brilliant? Indeed.

So, there you go. After over four months I’ve come around to loving this new Sloan album. It’s almost perfect and I only realise when I was singing along with In The Movies in the shower this morning. Only goes to prove one thing, familiarity does breed content.

Penthouse magazine is going out of business, according to the NY Times.

Went to see Steve Earle last night. Sure, he's known for bringing country rock back to its dirty origins but really, he's got to be inducted to the hall of fame for having the best comb-over in the history of rock'n'roll....

From The Times....

THE Glastonbury Festival is about to enter a new corporate era with door-to-door helicopter rides bypassing the huge tailback of hippy camper vans.

This year Glastonbury welcomes a new breed of festivalgoers who have pencilled in the three-day jamboree alongside Glyndebourne and Henley in the social season.

Almost 100,000 tickets have been sold for the festival, which begins on June 28, where the headline acts are rumoured to include Rod Stewart and the Stereophonics.

Corporate packages are selling fast for Glastonbury “virgins” who want to sample the famous atmosphere of hippy eccentricity without the unpleasantness associated with camping in a field with the mud-encrusted hordes.

For £4,000 a helicopter will pick up a visiting party from the back garden, fly over the traditional 20-mile traffic jam leading to Worthy Farm and dispatch guests in a sealed-off, mud-free VIP marquee bordering the site.

Inside ticket-holders will lounge on cushions, sofas and armchairs while high-quality cuisine and drink is served around the clock. They will be joined by many of the star bands, who have signed up to take the corporate package, rather than enjoy the delights of a backstage camper van.

Mark Edgley, of flyglastonbury.com, said: “This is the new way to ‘do’ Glastonbury. We have 11 choppers ready to go and we will pick people up from their back gardens and offer them 24-hour hospitality on site. A lot of the bookings have come from the bands themselves.”

Those pesky monkeys!

Tuesday April 2, 2:11 PM

Monkeys destroy library, stall classes in girls' college

By Indo-Asian News Service


Kolkata, Apr 2 (IANS) Scores of monkeys have swamped a girls' college in the hill resort of Darjeeling in eastern India, destroying thousands of books, stalling classes, clawing and slapping the students.

The monkeys have torn to shreds at least 6,000 books in the library and broken furniture. The damage to property caused by them exceeds Rs.60,000.

Residential students and teacher of Loreto College in Darjeeling, about 625 km north from here, are now under constant fear of a repeat attack from the monkeys, which have made the college precincts their home.

College authorities say the aggressive animals were unafraid of human beings. The truant monkeys have destroyed the college library, clawed and slapped students and invaded classrooms bringing lessons to an abrupt halt.

The college canteen has been a favourite haunt for the monkeys and students have reported instances of food packets being snatched by the animals.

Help had been sought from the district authorities, but till now nothing had been done to "mitigate our sufferings," a teacher said.

Monkey attacks are a seasonal menace in the Darjeeling hills. The girls' college came under their attack last year as well.

The district authorities say their hands are tied as local residents oppose any action against the monkeys, considered scared by Hindus.

District forest officials say after receiving complaints from Loreto College last year, they had captured 30 monkeys and released them in a faraway jungle. But the local residents opposed that and stuck posters on walls condemning the action.

"So, this year we don't know what to do," a confused forest official said.

An amazing moment in modern art....

Tracy Emin finds her lost cat poster has become an art form

By Joanna Bale (The Times)

WHEN Tracy Emin’s beloved cat, Docket, disappeared from her home in Spitalfields, the artist thought nothing of pinning up a few posters on lamp-posts, appealing for help in finding him.

Perhaps the outrageous doyenne of BritArt should have realised that when your most famous work of art is an unmade bed deemed to be worth £150,000, there is no end to what people might regard as your latest masterpiece.

For no sooner had the notices gone up, than they were torn down as rumours circulated that they could be worth a fortune. A neighbour in Miss Emin’s trendy East London artists’ enclave, which also houses Gilbert and George, said: “Apparently people have been quoted £500 a poster.”

Docket has, after all, appeared on a previous work by Miss Emin when she donated signed Polaroid photographs of herself holding the black and white cat to a charity raffle at the opening last year of the exhibition Ant Noises 2 at the Saatchi gallery.

While enthusiastically endorsing her other works, including a tent embroidered with the names of all the people she has slept with, Miss Emin’s agent insisted that this time, the poster was definitely “not art”.

A spokeswoman for the White Cube gallery, which also handles the works of Damien Hirst, said: “Tracy does deal with memorabilia, but the posters are not works of art, it’s simply a notice of her missing cat to alert neighbours. It’s not a conceptual piece of work and it has nothing to do with her art.”

Luckily for Miss Emin, the misunderstanding — and the fact that no reward was offered for the cat’ — did not prevent her finding Docket. The two were reunited earlier this week. The spokeswoman added: “Tracy was very upset about losing her cat, but Docket has been found.”

And perhaps not a moment too soon: Jake and Dinos Chapman, local residents and Emin’s BritArt contemporaries, helped to cement their controversial reputation with a gruesome series of paintings depicting tortured moggies.

It's been pretty rough lately. The big guys are dropping like flies. Yesterday, the man who taught me how to swear properly, Dudley Moore, died.

Check out the great man's obiturary in The Times.

Dudley Moore, CBE, comic, film star, composer, musician and cunt, was born on April 18, 1935. He died on March 27, 2002, aged 66.

Gig Posters is an unbelievable gig poster site.

I'm back! Is Tom Cruise an alien? Here's something from Salon's Oscar coverage....

"I must warn the world about Tom Cruise. I feel he is an utterly terrifying Superior Life Form, with the power to melt heads and braid spines. His eyes are as hard, shiny and brutally penetrating as diamond drill-bits. The new braces on his teeth suggest that he is erasing all that remained of his tiny imperfections, and he is now metamorphosing into Ultra Super Perfection Man 3000. I fear his intense, mind-beating politeness, his titanium imperviousness to human weakness, his barking power-laugh.

"Movies make a little bit of magic touch our lives," he commanded us to acknowledge, with steely resolve and Mach-5 mega-humorlessness.

People in the audience started laughing, until they realized that Tom was Not Being Funny At All. He was chosen to frankly address the post-Sept. 11 whither-the-Oscars conundrum head-on. "Should we celebrate the magic the movies bring? Now?" Tom asked, his eyes boring into the eyes of the TV multitudes and implanting rays of total domination. "Dare I say it?" He flashed a smirk with his robotically flawless teeth. "More than EVER," he hissed, laying on his most Extreme Scientological Unction. He had been commanded by the Elders to Obi-Wan-Kenobi-ize the audience into rebelieving in the importance of the obscenely superfluous Oscars. Tom Cruise is becoming the Scary Flaming Eye from "The Lord of the Rings," and I fear that nobody can stop him."